Green Tourism
Alongside our Green Impact programme, we are also piloting the Green Tourism programme at six of our sites. Green Tourism is a programme that recognises the commitment of tourism businesses and organisations that are actively working to become more sustainable. Since 1997, it has empowered those in hospitality and tourism to advance their sustainability practices and standards and evidence their sustainability activity.
With criteria aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Green Tourism is one of the most robust and most widely adopted industry frameworks, with a 3,000-strong global community of members.
It strives to support its members - from venues to visitor attractions, hotel groups to destination organisations - to do business better for people, places and our planet, building a more sustainable future for us all.
Site teams work through the Green Tourism criteria and are awarded with a bronze, silver or gold award. The first English Heritage site to go through the process was Scarborough Castle and we were delighted that they achieved a silver award in 2024.
Scarborough Castle Green Tourism volunteer Nicola Mackley said:
“The Green Tourism process took us through a series of questions covering all aspects of sustainability - ranging from how we avoid or reduce waste through to what we are doing to improve biodiversity on-site. For each question we had to provide evidence in the form of a photo or weblink to support our answer.
“We answered around 130 questions so inevitably we weren't able to say yes to every question. For any where we couldn't, we discussed possible solutions and added these to our action plan.
“It felt really rewarding to achieve a silver with our first trial site!”
Charlotte Hanson, site manager at Scarborough Castle, said:
“Working toward a silver award in Green Tourism was something the team at Scarborough got fully behind. The process of achieving the accreditation was thought-provoking and challenged the team to think about how we could improve on the work we had already done to become more sustainable.
"We're very proud of achieving a silver award, but completing the programme has left us with ambition and information to improve further.”
The team at Lindisfarne Priory also won a Green Tourism silver award in 2024.
Clara Freer, site manager at Lindisfarne Priory, said:
"The team at Lindisfarne were eager to work on Green Tourism and delighted to receive a silver award! We thought about the impact our actions have on the site, the wildlife and the wider island community. It also made us think more about how we engage with our visitors."
FIND OUT MORE
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Protecting Hurst Castle
In February 2021, a section of wall on the 19th-century east wing collapsed. Find out about our major project to protect and bring stability to the castle.
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Sustainability
The climate and ecological crises are two of the biggest challenges facing our historic sites. Find out how we are reducing our environmental impact.
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CLIMATE ACTION PLAN 2022–2025
Find out how our plan will create meaningful and sustainable change from carbon emissions to waste management and biodiversity.